00:00I want to give the assurance to our senior citizens that the government has
00:04no intention to interfere with the pension of any senior citizen. In the
00:12bill the eligibility criteria includes income, those who are ordinary resident
00:21and there was never any requirement with regards to savings. It has always been
00:28income-based. Minister of Social Development and Family Services Donna
00:33Cox seeking to clear the air on whether or not cuts will be forthcoming in the
00:38government's pension plans for senior citizens. On Monday the leader of the
00:43opposition raised an alarm on the issue as she spoke to her supporters during a
00:47cottage meeting. That bill will make it harder for pensioners and persons getting
00:53public assistance to access it, to access those grants. They're monitoring how much
00:59money you have in the bank. That's what they're going to do. That's what this bill
01:02is telling us. I remember they want you to go cashless. They want you to put every
01:06cent you have in the bank. Remember? Remember? During a media conference
01:11Minister Cox gave an explanation as to what exactly transpired. Unfortunately it
01:17appears such a requirement was introduced into the bill which was not
01:22highlighted in the policy or even in the cabinet note that was approved. And that
01:28note was in March 2023. It so happened that we had cabinet today. We normally
01:35have cabinet on a Thursday when we had cabinet today and we discussed the note.
01:41And at cabinet today in discussing the note I wish to affirm that it is not and
01:48it never was cabinet's intention to affect the savings of our elderly at all.
01:56So therefore we will not be pursuing that part of the bill. The Attorney
02:02General sought to give further clarification with the hope of
02:06alleviating any affairs. The draft policy has been revised to define the term
02:10ordinary residents and include such definition in the interpretation section
02:15page 6 of the draft policy refers. Further guidelines have now been
02:19provided in section 4 to assist in the determination of whether a person is
02:23ordinarily resident or not. The ministry further proposes that all of the
02:28qualification requirements for the senior citizens pension should be
02:32contained in one comprehensive section of the act. And this is the important part
02:37of paragraph 9 that I wish to read. As a consequence the ministry proposes that
02:42section 4 should speak to the entire criteria to be satisfied. And I stress
02:48the words there the entire criteria to be satisfied and those criteria laid out
02:541 age, 2 income and 3 residential qualification. There was no reference to
03:03any criteria either affecting or defining savings.
03:09Akshaya Goldstein TV6 News
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